tractors, impliments

Tractors, Implements, Systems

Michael Kilpatrick, Farmer

What are your goals?

Stay small and do farmer’s markets part-time

Run a large CSA

Go certified and produce few wholesale crops efficiently

Every Farm is different!

What is the weak link?

Look at operation every year and see where bottlenecks are.

Or weakness in team?

What is slowing us down, crimping the operation.

opportunity lost cost?

How do we know what we are making money on?

We need to make $40,000 an acre

Also need to make at least $40 an hour picking the crop

Works out to be $4.50 a bed ft

Bed Systems

an acre is 43,560 square ft

All beds are on 72” centers

or 7,260 bed ft per Acre

We grow 4 rows on a bed, 14” apart

Carrots

Yield is 4.25 lbs #1’s for 3 row ft.

NOT including juicers or seconds

that is 5.64 lbs per bed/ft

Beds are 300 ft long=1,692 lbs per bed

24 beds to the acre, or 7260 bed ft per acre = 40, 946 lbs per acre

Sales of Carrots

We retail in quart containers at $3.50 for approximately 1.5 lbs or $2.33 per lb

That equals $95,404 per acre.

at 40, 960 lbs per acre we need around $1 a lb to break-even.

At our normal $1.50 wholesale price we are making $60 k an acre

When can we harvest?

Retail price is 2.33 per lb

divide that into $40,000 per acre and that equals 17,167 lbs per acre, or 0.59 lbs #1 per row ft

bunched carrots are more per # so can harvest earlier

Harvest efficiency

We can harvest 1250 lbs #1 in an hour, 4 crew and the brontosaurus

That is 312.5# per man/hour

a crew of 2 can wash, weigh, and label 296# in one hour, ten minutes or 127# per man hour

we estimate $10 per hour for our workers

Continuing..

3.2 cents to harvest and 7.8 cents to wash

It costs us 11 cents per lb to process carrots, harvest, wash, and pack.

$728 dollars per hour to harvest, $295 to pack.

The Organic Farmer’s Business Handbook, http://amzn.to/1cynDsA

Don’t grow expen$ive

Cover Crop

Questions every farm should ask

Scale and Goals

How does this fit with my long term plan?

What scale do we want to be on and does this fit with that?

How does this fit with our systems already existing on the farm?

How will this affect our team?

How does this affect, me, the farmer?

How does this affect our crew? What do they think?

What do councilors or mentors think?

What do other farmers using this piece of equipment, technique, or soil type think of it?

Financial Decisions

Do we have the money for it? or do we need to finance this?

Could we borrow, lease or rent this equipment?

How many hours will this save us? Cost us?

What are the numbers on this? Payback, reduced cost per unit of crop, etc?

Financial Decisions

How does this affect the farm financially, or what are the long term liabilities of this decision?

What additional expenses, resources, or time commitments will this purchase/lease incur?

Is a dealer for this equipment readily available? How much do parts cost?

Equipment purchasing

never make a hasty decision

see if you can try it out before buying

double size your equipment, windows of opportunity can be small

Track record of the company

Rainy day or reserve fund

we always have a list of equipment that is on our radar

if the right one comes along we use this money to buy it.

Multi-use equipment

You don’t want an expensive piece of equipment sitting around 363 days of the year.

buying a G over a Super C- depends on scale

share equipment between growers

research, research, research

Mentors

try to find an established, seasoned, grower that you can learn from

be careful of conflict of interest, look outside of your immediate area, or in different sales channels

There is a difference between a good grower and a good business man.

Equipment

Equipment case studies

Vegetable tractors

Tillage work on the farm

important it doesn't break down

responsible for spraying, bed forming, pulling harvesters, transplanters, etc

loader responsible for loading compost, fertilizer, moving equipment, light excavation.

most dealers are clueless about vegetable tractors

important features

telescoping draft links

telescoping hydraulic top link

creeper gear

open operator platform

reverser transmission

narrow tires to fit between beds

JD 5325 Hi-wheel

not enough traction

couldn’t put loader on it

don’t like electro-hydrostatic 3 pt controls

JD 5525 Hi-wheel

Hi-wheel tractors need matched implements

13-6 tires had plenty of traction

again no loader

5325

12.4 tires work great

self-leveling bucket with 3000# rating

creeper gear

reverser transmission

All goes back to scale

both those tractors were too specialized for our operation

if we had had other large tractors both would have worked excellent

3720 John Deere

used as our run-about tractor on the farm

hydrostatic

weighs only 2900 lbs

can lift around 1200 lbs (all bulk bins)

dealer 5 minutes away

Bed Systems

provide a standard system for vegetable production

The wider the bed the less wheel tracks per acre

Allow for machine planting, cultivation, harvesting, air flow

1 row system

4 row systems

5 row system

5 rows for spinach, radish, salad, other small crops (9”)

3 rows beets, carrots, beans (18”)

2 rows broccoli, cauliflower, potatoes (36”)

1 row tomatoes, artichokes (72”)

Cultivation Tractors

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Wish List...

www.rainflow.com

Flaming for early weed control

Flaming basics

• either used for stale seed bedding (before the crop is planted or blind cultivation (before the crop is up)

• idea situation: plant, wait till seeds are germinating but not above the soil yet, flame, seeds come up in weed free bed

• flame midday when plants and ground are dry

• hot as possible

Parsnips just coming up

Transplant House

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Mulches

Why Mulch?

• ADDS ORGANIC MATTER!

• stops erosion

• reduces water requirements

• keeps workers and produce clean during harvesting

• Keeps worms happy

Biotello• starts to breakdown within 2-3 months-

gone by spring

• twice the cost of regular plastic($350 for 5000 ft)

• NOT OMRI yet- Certified in Europe, Canada

• has changed the way we farm- we are now adding organic matter easily while growing crops

fmc carrot and beet harvester

Listening to our crew

we have an open door policy

we also try to buy 1 major thing each year for them

important for them to feel like we are listening

bunch line

greens line barrel washer

vegetable washer

tomato area

coolers

in feed

Hudson Valve

Barrel washer from Grindstone Farm

www.grindstonefarm.com

Connect with us!

@kilpatrickfarm

Michael Kilpatrick

www.kilpatrickfamilyfarm.com

www.michael-kilpatrick.com